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Roccocino
Roccocino is a city located on the eastern coast of the Zur Peninsula, approximately halfway between Zur-Etia delta and the northern continental coast. It is a large city, serving as a central authority to the middle region of the peninsula and its many affiliated towns and outposts. Due to its convenient seaside location, it serves as an excellent port, and hosts trade from eastern city-states, as well as serving as a basis of exports for its finest products: metalwork. A long history of traditional smithing from Roccocino's West Mines neighborhood has made its weapons, armor and tools unparalleled across the Eastern Sea and much of the mainland. It also serves as a center for woodworking, with steady supplies of timber brought in from Folprecht and the Mezzos mountain range. The balance of power in the city is controlled by five families in a constitutional pentarchy, enforced by the signing of the Pledged Peace. Each family has taken to specialization in a different area of trade or governance. Most political antagonism occurs between the Lomeri family and the Tassio, where historically the Pasardelle and the Percolo have been partial to side with the Lomeri, and the Ario with the Tassio. History War of the Fivefold Alliance Before the city was unified, it existed as two separate, but connected outposts known in that age as Riva del Male by outsiders. On the sea were twin fortresses. On the mainland, a large castle housed the Tassio; this building would burn down in 1220 and be rebuilt by 1231 under Cosima Tassio's tutelage, henceforth known as the Castello Cosima. Offshore, on what would later be known as Hushed Island, an Ario stronghold offered complete control over an island rich with caves and tunnels. Both groups held steady control over both seaside trade in this region and the second outpost, a mining operation kilometers from the sea, later known as the West Mines. In the year 921, an alliance lead by Caspar Percolo and Laszlo Lomeri began a costly and lengthy military campaign across the peninsula, stripping land resources from the Ario and Tassio families. With less farmland and wood to support the peasantry, refugees heading into Roccocino began to face famine, and poor housing led to unsanitary conditions. It was at this point that Aurelio Tassio, then patriarch of the Tassio family, turned to necromancy, and he and his vassals cultivated an army of undead from the untenable bodies of the living. The Ario turned with the Tassio, but from the same power that gave them necromancy, they instead learned powers of compulsion and deception. The entity responsible for having bestowed these powers is known only as The King, and as his vassal city, Roccocino pushed back the allied onslaught and even thrived, threatening to overflow past its previous boundaries. It was in the year 950 that Carlo the Sage joined the alliance, beckoned from the Red Desert beyond by a self-proclaimed confrontation with the King. With his advice and mastery of the arcane, the alliance pushed the undead horde back to a defensive position surrounding the city, where a land siege was mounted in the year 954. A stalemate settled for more than four years, until a young Justina Tassio, last-born to the family, took the risk of parlaying with the leaders of the alliance alone, outside siege boundaries. In her movements in and out of the city, she was aided by Aidan Ario, twin brother to Alsanna Ario, current leader of the family. The devious hidden pathways they used would prove key to the allied victory. Demanding mercy for their families, the two rebels joined the invaders, and in less than a year, the war came to an end. Unification During the last few months of war, the lives of the belligerent Tassio brothers were claimed, leaving Justina as leader and matriarch to the family. Alsanna Ario, seeing victory slip away, was possessed by madness to the point of suicide, so that Aidan was left as head of family as well, although his six other sisters were gratefully safe. In the year 959, the Pledged Peace was signed, proclaiming Justina Tassio, Aidan Ario, Caspar Percolo, Laszlo Lomeri and Carlo Pasardelle to be each leaders of one noble house, all of equal political standing and import. The Peace was also rumored to possess magical powers cast by Carlo, so that no member of any one family could ever harm a member of another. From this point on, the different families cooperated, specializing in their own tasks and working with one another to build a prosperous city.